The enduring relevance of plant stem anatomy across disciplines

Understanding the impact of local and global environmental challenges on plant growth and commodity production is crucial, as plants play an essential role in global carbon sequestration and bioeconomy. However, navigating these complexities requires a specialised understanding of plant stem anatomy. Unfortunately, there is a widespread lack of expert plant anatomists, especially in ecological and taxonomic contexts, which is concerning. Therefore, this paper suggests ways to train the next generation of plant stem anatomists through the upcoming multi-technological era. Incorporating plant stem anatomy in academic plant science, biology, forestry, and natural and environmental science programs can encourage a more comprehensive understanding and practical applications of new anatomical knowledge. This is still significant despite the prevalence of computer-aided data collection and analyses and the ongoing artificial intelligence revolution.